


Two Ghosts  -  or :  The Curious Non-Event of The Rocking Horse in The Night-Time

by graestu



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 00:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21170072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/graestu/pseuds/graestu
Summary: The Doctor and Bill visit a haunted house.





	Two Ghosts  -  or :  The Curious Non-Event of The Rocking Horse in The Night-Time

"Stop!" said The Doctor.

Bill was flicking through _'The Big Book Of Haunted Britain'_ for a random place to visit.

"I don't believe any of it," she laughed, "But I like the idea of not seeing for myself!"

"Now, place it face down, open at that page, without looking at it, on the TARDIS scanner," explained The Doctor. "I'll link it to the destination setting sequence. That way, we'll have no preconceived ideas about what's supposed to happen, and not be influenced into imagining certain things."

The engines wheezed and groaned in their familiar way for the short journey.

The Doctor and Bill stepped out cautiously, finding themselves upstairs in a dark old house.

The full moon was shining brightly, reflecting off the deep snow, so their eyes adjusted quickly. Their sharply defined shadows crept slowly across the stern portraits that lined the oak panelled corridor as they started to explore.

The edges of the leaded windows were thick with ice, and the chilly air turned The Doctor's and Bill's breath to steam.

Even their lightest footsteps made the floorboards creak - amplified and echoing in the dead silence.

They reached the woodwormed balcony overlooking the vast hallway.

The furniture was covered with dustsheets, and The Doctor and Bill, concluding they were alone, relaxed.

"There's only one scientific way to prove if there are ghosts," said The Doctor, with a grin.

He pushed open a door. Its stiff hinges gave a high pitched rusty squeal.

"And this is where it all happens," he said. "The Nursery."

They went inside, and The Doctor lifted a dustsheet, revealing a rocking horse.

"It's always proof," he smiled, "When a rocking horse rocks on its own. And there it is. Perfectly still. We're safe!"

He overdid a sigh of relief with an exaggerated mopping of his brow. Then added, "But it's also the first thing they fake."

He examined it.

"Yes, thought so. A clockwork mechanism."

He wound it up and set it going. It appeared to be rocking by itself.

Bill called out, "Woooh! We know you're there! We're coming to get you!" and laughed loudly like an evil witch.

She began stomping about playfully, arms outstretched, zombie style.

Then suddenly stopped. Crushingly embarrassed with herself.

"Actually," she said, "You know what is creepy? Us. Walking about in someone's house in the middle of the night. I think we should just go."

"You're right," replied The Doctor, fiddling with the rocking horse, unable to switch it off.

They returned shamefaced to the TARDIS, and went home.

They buried the unread book back in the box of things Bill had collected for the Friends of the Daisy charity shop, not wanting a reminder of their behaviour that night.

'The Big Book Of Haunted Britain', by Mwah! magazine's astrologer Mopus Forropus, has this to say:

_Corncrake Manor Once owned by the inventor of the clockwork rocking horse, and known for the strange events of January 1921, when the family were away for the winter. Only the caretaker remained, and the deep snow proved no one entered or left. His hastily scribbled account described an incident that began and ended with a loud wheezing and groaning. There was a cackling woman shouting threats, and footsteps upstairs, leaving prints in the dust. Too afraid to investigate, he later found a rocking horse rocking by itself. Unable to escape the snow bound house, his hair is said to have turned white with fright as he died of shock._


End file.
